One of the most important components on a truck or automobile is the tire. The tire provides the only contact with the surface of a road exposing it to the harshest elements. For this reason, an ongoing effort is directed to improving rubber compounds used in the manufacture of tires making them resistant to degradation. The use of non-degrading materials poses a serious problem as wear resistance eliminates conventional landfill composting.
In the United States alone nearly three hundred million automobile and truck tires are discarded each year. Previously the tires were placed in common landfills consuming a volume of non-fillable space. To lessen the burden on common landfills, tires are now separated from household waste materials and placed in specialty landfills. Tire landfills created new problems forming unsightly disposal areas that are suspectable to fire and related health hazards. Tires also trap water within the cavities producing countless bodies of water ideal for breeding mosquitoes. While various recycling processes are known, in most instances the cost is prohibitively high, maintaining landfills as the most viable alternative for disposal.
A tire landfill placed in the ocean is known as an artificial reef. Reefs are tropical ecosystems containing layers of living corals, photosynthetic plants, water polyps and algae. Herbivorous fish, such as butterfly fish, sea urchins, sea cucumbers, brittle stars and numerous species of mollusks feed on the algae. Hiding in the nooks and crevices of the reefs are predatory animals such as crabs, moray eels and sharks. Thus, an artificial reef must be as stable as a natural reef to support marine life.
An artificial reef constructed of tires is beneficial to marine life and commonly consists of hundreds of tires piled together. The problem with simply piling tires is that the ocean current easily dislodges the tires making the pile unstable. Despite the resistance to degradation, tire reefs are not frequently used as the tires trap air providing buoyancy to the dump making them susceptible to movement and questionable for reef stability.
As the natural reefs are continually destroyed, artificial reefs have significantly played an important role in providing shelter, food, protection and spawning areas for hundreds of species of fish and other marine organisms. An ongoing effort is made to find materials suitable for the construction of artificial reefs such as tires but may include rock, ships, planes, cars, heavy-gauge steel structures such as oil platforms and fishing piers. In Florida, the most active reef-developing state, nearly everything and anything has been sunk and there are more than 350 sites containing waste products, most of which degrade in seawater.
While the bulk of the artificial reefs are aging ships, the Florida shore line is littered with items such as dumpsters in St. Augustine, bathtubs in Stuart, a Rolls Royce in Riviera Beach, an airplane in Miami, commodes in Marco Island, buses and Coca Cola trucks in Naples, railroad box cars in Sarasota, and washers and dryers in Ft. Walton Beach.
Another use for used tires is that of a controlled landfill. For instance, structures such as levies and dikes require a base fill or support structure. Typically the fill is surrounding soil that, if removed from an area close to the construction, may result in ground instability. The infamous Japanese airport is built on soil fill material and is currently sinking at an alarming rate. Similarly, housing construction requires the use of support material. If the soil used is not stable, the result will be wall crack. In this manner, all structures would benefit from the use of clean predictable backfill. Despite the durability of rubber, tires are not used in such a situation due to the compressibility of the structure. Tires that are shredded must be combined with other items to prevent from floating away or shifting.
Thus, what is lacking in the art is a method and apparatus for employing used tires for the formation of various structures such as artificial reefs as well as the underlying structures of buildings, levies and so forth providing a clean, low cost and predictable landfill.